First you’ll need to separate the head & tentacles from the body. Push something blunt like the handle of a spoon into the body above the innards to disconnect them. Be firm but careful not to burst the innards or break open the sac of ink, although you shouldn’t be worried if some leaks out. Once you’ve pried the innards free of the body pull them out. Gently scrape out any remaining innards and be sure to remove the backbone, which looks like a piece of clear plastic. When you’re done the squid body should be totally hollow.

Cut off the innards from the head & tentacles. Then split open the head with a Y-shaped cut, spreading it open to gain access to the eyes and beak. remove them.

Scrub some salt into the tentacles to remove any dirt and grit from the suckers. Rinse them in cold running water until they are no longer slippery.

To remove the skin from the body, get a bit of salt on your fingers for a grip, grasp an edge of the skin, and pull off as much as you can. Keep salting your fingers as needed, and pull off any remaining bits of skin.

Place the clean squid and tentacles on the cutting board. Put wooden chopsticks on each side of the squid body to act as a guard while you slice the top part of the squid. The chopsticks should stop your knife from going all the way through and will keep the other side intact.